Introduction: Although it is discouraged, community pharmacy customers can obtain oral corticosteroids (OCSs) without prescriptions from some community pharmacies in Iraq. Medication abuse is defined as the use of medication for non-medical reasons. Objectives: The study aimed to determine demographics, beliefs, and perceptions associated with the abuse of oral corticosteroids for non-illness reasons among community pharmacy customers. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in fall 2018 in four provinces in Iraq. Customers of 19 community pharmacies asking for OCSs for themselves without a prescription were administered a paper survey. This study used the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) to measure the relationship between the motivational factors and the abuse of OCSs. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the relationships between the use of OCSs for non-illness and six TRA factors: Normative belief, behavioral belief, evaluation of the behavior, motivation to comply, subjective norms and attitude toward behavior. Results: The study enrolled 141 participants (98 women and 43 men) taking asking for OCSs without prescription. Dexamethasone was the most commonly used OCSs (59.6%). Friends were the primary recommenders for corticosteroids abuse (28.4%). The main reasons for using OCSs were to increase appetite and gain weight (53.9 %). Approximately one-third (36.2 %) of the participants gained weight after using OCSs. The regression analysis of the TRA variables showed two factors were significantly related to the abuse of OCSs. Age had a significant inverse relationship with the abuse of OCSs and the "good appearance" belief had a significant positive association with OCS abuse. Conclusion: Some Iraqi community pharmacy customers use non-prescribed oral corticosteroids to increase appetite and gain weight. Improve body appearance represents the dominant incentive that urges people to use OCSs without prescription. Health officials and healthcare practitioners need to promote people's awareness about the risks of misusing OCSs through education programs and advertisements in public health settings, media, and social media. Article Type: Original Research
Nanoparticles (NPs) have unique capabilities that make them an eye-opener opportunity for the upstream oil industry. Their nano-size allows them to flow within reservoir rocks without the fear of retention between micro-sized pores. Incorporating NPs with drilling and completion fluids has proved to be an effective additive that improves various properties such as mud rheology, filtration, thermal conductivity, and wellbore stability. However, the biodegradability of drilling fluid chemicals is becoming a global issue as the discharged wetted cuttings raise toxicity concerns and environmental hazards. Therefore, it is urged to utilize chemicals that tend to break down and susceptible to biodegradation. This research presents the pra
... Show MoreKnowledge of the distribution of the rock mechanical properties along the depth of the wells is an important task for many applications related to reservoir geomechanics. Such these applications are wellbore stability analysis, hydraulic fracturing, reservoir compaction and subsidence, sand production, and fault reactivation. A major challenge with determining the rock mechanical properties is that they are not directly measured at the wellbore. They can be only sampled at well location using rock testing. Furthermore, the core analysis provides discrete data measurements for specific depth as well as it is often available only for a few wells in a field of interest. This study presents a methodology to generate synthetic-geomechani
... Show MoreThis paper is interested in certain subclasses of univalent and bi-univalent functions concerning to shell- like curves connected with k-Fibonacci numbers involving modified Sigmoid activation function θ(t)=2/(1+e^(-t) ) ,t ≥0 in unit disk |z|<1 . For estimating of the initial coefficients |c_2 | , |c_3 |, Fekete-Szego ̈ inequality and the second Hankel determinant have been investigated for the functions in our classes.
Purpose: To determine the effect of information technology governance (ITG) under the control objectives for information and related technologies (COBIT) on financial performance is the objective of this study. Additionally, the article seeks to look into the relationships between the factors under consideration. Theoretical framework: Information technology and operational processes are evaluated and ensure their compliance with the instructions of the Central Bank of Iraq. Therefore, the research dealt with a conceptual framework by reviewing the literature on the importance of the COBIT framework in assessing financial performance. Design/methodology/approach: To investigate the effect of information technology; we the valu
... Show MoreBackground: Adolescence is one of the most dynamic stages of human development. However, Oral health is an integral part of public health, significantly impacts on the quality of life. OHE program is an important issue that should be given to them. The aim of this study was to evaluate oral health outcomes on adolescents' oral health by teachers and mothers Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in seven schools of Diyala - Baquba city. This 14-weeks duration study assessed the effectiveness of school OHE program on oral hygiene status, gingival health, and halitosis assessment of 80, 12 year-old, both genders of school adolescents. From the selected schools, one group was supervised by the teachers and the other was supervised
... Show MoreThe aim of the research is to identify the impact of the dimensions of the European Excellence Model in evaluating the performance of the bank of the research sample, as well as to interpret which dimensions are more important to the banks of the research sample. Based on the dimensions of this model, the United Bank for Investment and Finance has chosen a research community, and has met with officials of the United Bank for Investment and Finance at various administrative levels to measure the practices of excellence management in the European model, and the analytical approach has been the case study and the construction of the checklist as a tool to collect information. The research has reached the most important results There is a discr
... Show MoreThe research aims to apply a modified SERVQUAL model to evaluate the quality of the educational services via conducting exploratory research for students from the College of Administration and Economics- Department of Business Administration- Evening studies at the University of Baghdad. Questionnaire of two parts was distributed to a sample of (72) students out of (720) students of the 2nd.,3rd. and 4th. year in the beginning of the second semester of the year 2008-2009 to measure the expectations and perceptions to the quality of the educational services. Five major dimensions were analyzed to see the gaps for (22) variables. The study concluded that there were (13) variables confirmed that the
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to evaluate the association between IBD and oral symptom and mucosal lesions in patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that has been done in (Kurdistan center for Gastroenterology and hepatology) of Teaching Hospital in Sulaymaniyah-Iraq, which included 101 patients previously diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease who were interviewed regarding manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease especially oral manifestations. Required data were collected through a specially designed questionnaire,
Results: The patients’ mean age was 45.74±12.58 years. Patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease w
... Show MoreBackground: Vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency is common in different age groups in both genders especially among pregnant women and neonates where it is associated with several adverse outcomes including preeclampsia and preterm delivery. Objectives: To assess the extent of vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency among mothers and their neonates and some factors related to it and identify some adverse outcomes of the deficiency/ insufficiency on neonates (preterm birth and low birth weight). Subject and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 88 Iraqi pregnant women and neonates admitted to “Al-Elwiya teaching hospital for maternity” in Baghdad- Al-Rusafah from 1st of June 2019 to 31st of August 2019. Dat
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